ROCKFORD — Kelly Steward moved from Los Angeles to Rockford to change her life.

It changed her music, too.

“I was married and had a son,” said Steward, a singer-songwriter and leader of the band Kelly Steward and the Restless Kind. “My life was kind of falling apart a little bit back there. I needed to bring my son back home around family. This is where I’m from, the Chicagoland area. So I came back. I just needed to. I needed to raise my son around my family.”

Out West, Steward wrote tunes she described as very “poppy.” Back in Illinois, she said, she found her real voice, a rootsy Americana, folkish sound.

“I felt my writing out there was more to please other people, so it wasn’t quite me,” she said. “Coming back and going through some life changes and being back at my roots kind of reminded me of who I was and who I am, and what kind of songwriter I want to be.”

In Rockford, Steward said, she wanted to find a house with a backyard for her son, a good school and proximity to Chicago. But she found much more.

“I didn’t realize there was a music scene here and I kind of fell into it,” she said. “I’m glad I did, and it was unexpected.”

Steward has recorded two EPs and is working on a full-length album that she hopes is out, soon.

Steward played Dec. 18 in the Loft at Kryptonite as part of Songs from Screw City. Greg Whitson accompanied her on guitar and Scott Ford played bass. Audio was recorded by Troy Oakley of Sound Vizion Productions. Kryptonite intern John Phillip shot the video.